Characteristics of the magnetron discharge plasma at large distances from the cathode

The parameters of the magnetron plasma at distances several times larger than the cathode diameter were measured. The plasma temperature and density measured by the probe technique were found to be 1.4 eV and 6 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻³, respectively. The dependences of the plasma density and temperature on the argon flow rate in the course of TiAlN coating deposition were determined. Before deposition of the coating, the substrate was cleaned by ion sputtering at substrate bias voltages higher than 200 V.